KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian mobile device company AdvanceTC Ltd, which made its debut on the National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) on Sept 5, will seek a full listing on the primary exchange — the Australian Securities Exchange — within the next eight to 12 months.

It plans to raise as much as US$100 million (RM326 million) as it moves to a full listing next year.

“Currently, with a compliance listing, we can only cater to selective investors. But with a public float, we can be a full-fledged public listed company,” chief executive officer Loi Cheng Pheng told The Edge Financial Daily in an interview.

For the current financial year ending December 2014 (FY14), AdvanceTC is targeting sales of about A$5 million (RM14.28 million).

Loi said the company had chosen the NSX for its stock market debut as its listing rules and processes are less complex.

“After internally funding our research and development (R&D) activities for the past nine years, we decided to sell our products to the mass market via a listing of our company. We did consider listing on Bursa Malaysia, but being a start-up we face a lot of complications such as costs and [listing] scheduling uncertainties,” said Loi.

AdvanceTC decided to seek a compliance listing for its shares on the NSX, which according to the NSX website, is one of the four main listing routes a company can take in Australia and is the quickest, easiest and lowest cost method of listing on the exchange.

“[Seeking a] compliance listing was a creative way for us to monetise our shares, but of course we needed to prove our potential to be listed and so we worked closely with our NSX-nominated adviser Southasia Advisory Sdn Bhd. After a few months of negotiations and a due diligence on our company, I am pleased to say we achieved a compliance listing,” said Loi.

Under the exercise, the company had listed 300.32 million shares at a market price of A$0.55 per share, giving it an estimated market capitalisation of A$165.17 million.

However, a compliance listing does not permit the company to raise any capital for three months, and 193.62 million or 64% of its 300.32 million shares in issue will be escrowed for 12 months.

Loi said this year, AdvanceTC’s focus will be on marketing its Magic Zlate 11, which serves as a laptop but with the mobility of a tablet, that was launched in April this year.

“We are targeting to produce at least 300,000 units of the Magic Zlate 11 within the next 12 to 18 months. We have both low- and high-end models, starting from US$699 per unit,” he said.

The company currently outsources the manufacturing of its products to China, but plans are in the pipeline to move production closer to home by setting up a manufacturing plant in Malaysia, said Loi.

This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on September 29, 2014.